1. Unless a clear, lowered 5-year tax plan is laid out, business is going to continue to sit on their money.  I know I am.

2. Unless the defunding of Obummercare is part and parcel with other major spending cuts, leave the debt ceiling where it is.  Without that Pelosi/Obama/Reid rammed down our throats albatross being defunded, the DC congresscritters will be raising the debt roof perpetually till the final swirl down the bowl.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.

Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours.

Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ``the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit. ~ Senator Jug Hussein Ears, March 16, 2006